On-site registration cost for the joint conference is at least $70, and at most $100, depending upon the choice of membership options for the various pest management associations. For students, registration fees are from $15 to $25, depending upon membership options.

The Mississippi Entomological Association will start the conference at 12:55 p.m., Feb. 26, with a half-day session that concludes at 5 p.m.

Presenters will address various entomological topics about early-season cotton insects including the tarnished plant bug and the use of herbicide burn-down and corn and soybean effects on its management.

Additional presentations will discuss insect pests of corn, wheat, and soybeans, and the impact of plant hosts on pyrethroid susceptibility in bollworms.

Jay Mahaffey, Delta and Pine Land Co., will conclude the entomological session at 4:30 p.m.

The Mississippi Association of Plant Pathologists and Nematologists will meet Feb. 27, beginning at 8 a.m. Topics include blueberry production, mycotoxin contamination of grain products, various soybean pathogens including Asian soybean rust, and diseases of peanuts and putting greens.

Effects of early and normal planting dates on reniform nematode suppression will also be described.

The conference will close the morning of Feb. 28 with the meeting of the Mississippi Weed Science Society beginning at 8 a.m. Larry Steckel, University of Tennessee, Jackson, Tenn., will discuss weed management in biofuel crops.

David Peterson of Kansas State University, Manhattan will discuss the genetics of pigweed resistance to glyphosate.

Weed management with changes in cropping systems will be addressed by Donnie Miller from the LSU Agricultural Center, St. Joseph, La.

Other papers will cover weed management in switchgrass and corn production systems and the effect of glyphosate-resistant cropping systems on tillage programs.

The Weed Science Society will hold its business meeting at 11 a.m., with adjournment at noon.